The official Twitter account of NBC News was briefly taken over Friday by a group of hackers that posted false news alerts claiming that a hijacked plane crashed into Ground Zero.

The series of false tweets from hacker group the Script Kiddies began at roughly 5:45pm ET with a post reading, “Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. more as the story develops.”

Several minutes later, the hackers posted: “This is not a joke, Ground Zero has just been attacked. We’re attempting to get reporters on the scene.”

Ryan Osborn, director of social media for NBC News, posted a message on Twitter from his own account, alerting followers that the site had been hacked and warning them not to pass on the misinformation.

After sending three false Tweets within minutes, the group then posted a Tweet to claim responsibility: “NBCNEWS hacked by The Script Kiddies. Follow them at @s_kiddies!”

Based on Twitter posts, however, the false tweets circulated quickly and some people on the microblogging site believed another terrorist attack was underway.

New York City was already on edge Friday following credible new warnings of a potential terror plot to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11. New York City police were a highly visible presence in the city on Friday, swarming subway stations and bridges and regularly stopping vans and trucks to check their cargo.

Later Friday evening, NBC News released a statement, saying they are “working with Twitter to correct the situation and sincerely apologize for the scare that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act.”

The Script Kiddies described themselves on Twitter as supporters of the notorious hacker ring Anonymous and claim their goal is “exploiting simplistic methods with hilarious results.”

Minutes after the hacking was reported, the Script Kiddies own Twitter account was suspended.

The Script Kiddies was previously credited with hacking Fox News’ political Twitter account and posting Tweets falsely reporting that President Barack Obama had been shot. Fox News is owned by News Corp., which is the parent company of NewsCore.